Grégoire Ndahimana (born 1952) is the former mayor of Kivumu, Rwanda. Indicted and arrested for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ndahimana is thought to be one of the key figures in the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, and is claimed to have had up to 6,000

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

killed. In 2013, he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Role in Rwandan Genocide

Ndahimana was the mayor of Kivumu, his birth town in Rwanda, where he allegedly perpetrated the hunting and killing of Tutsi people. The ICTR indicted him of conspiring to kill up to 2,000 Tutsi civilians by ordering the bulldozing of a local church housing them. Ndahimana allegedly conspired with

Athanase Seromba Athanase Seromba (born 1963) is a Catholic priest from Rwanda who was found guilty of committing genocide and of crimes against humanity during the Rwandan genocide. Crimes At the time of the genocide, Seromba was the priest in charge of a C ...

, a Catholic priest who was convicted by the ICTR in 2008 of the same massacre. Of the 6,000 Tutsis who had been living in Ndahimana's town while he was mayor, nearly all were killed in the genocide. According to reports, Ndahimana, the local police, and various officials of the government allegedly started massing Tutsi refugees in the parish of Nyange on 10 April 1994. Approximately 2,000 refugees were inside. After a two-day siege, Ndahimana met with other leaders in the local area, including the parish priest, and, on April 15, the decision to bulldoze the church was made.

Search and capture

Ndahimana was among thirteen war criminals from the genocide thought uncaptured, and was considered a 'Category 1' suspect by the ICTR, a rank reserved for the perceived masterminds of the 1994 genocide. In May 2008, the US Department of State issued a Rewards for Justice poster stating that part of a US$5 million reward could be paid for information leading to his capture. On August 11, 2009, Ndahimana was captured by a UN-backed joint Rwandan- Congolese task force. Ndahimana had been hiding amongst, and fighting alongside, FDLR rebels, according to Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende. The FDLR, or Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, is a group with a large component of

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

s who took part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The soldiers arrested Ndahimana in a village in North Kivu after catching him by surprise while he "was coming to look for some food within the local population,” according to army spokesperson Olivier Hamuli. The arrest was announced on the following day. Ndahimana had been in hiding for 15 years, and, according to Rwanda's justice minister

Tharcisse Karugarama Tharcisse Karugarama is a Rwandan lawyer and politician. A lawyer/attorney by profession, Karugarama was the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General in the Rwandan government for about 7 years. A member of the RPF, Karugarama has played a ro ...

, was considered by the government to be “...one of the big ones." Ndahimana's trial is scheduled in Tanzania, where the ICTR is headquartered. On 20 September 2009, Ndahimana was transferred from DRC to custody of the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania, where he was indicted. After the initial trial in 2011 and after the appeal judgement in 2013, Ndahimana was convicted of committing genocide and crimes against humanity (extermination) and given a sentence of 25 years of imprisonment, which was increased from an initial 15-year sentence..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndahimana, Gregoire 1952 births Living people Mayors of places in Rwanda People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Rwandan people convicted of genocide Rwandan people convicted of crimes against humanity